This cake is an occasion cake. It’s two-tiered, it’s got champagne in it, and POP ROCKS! All those components make it just a little bit more special than the average cake. This cake really embodies New Year’s Eve traditions to me – it’s fun and unexpected, it’s got a little bit of champagne in it, and the pop rocks are like little fireworks for your taste buds. Continue reading “Champagne pop rocks cake and New Year’s Eve”
Tag: party
Milo cupcakes and dinosaur themed birthdays
I have wanted to do a themed birthday party for a long time now. When I was given some adorable cupcake wrappers by Illume Design, I knew what my theme would be – DINOSAURS!!
I very rarely do manly posts. Without even thinking, I drift towards florals and polka dots and tea pots. Browsing through previous blog posts, one might suggest that I don’t actually own anything monochrome or beige. I promise that I do! In an effort to counter this slightly, I styled a dinosaur themed birthday party (which any boy OR girl would happily attend.)
Milo isn’t a very pretty food, but it is delicious, which is why I love it. The very fact that Milo is kind of bumpy and ugly means that it is perfectly suited to a dinosaur-y landscape. It also makes the cupcakes extra delicious. Continue reading “Milo cupcakes and dinosaur themed birthdays”
Egg hunts and ten essential Easter recipes
Easter is a fantastic time of the year. No matter how much a person may dislike religious celebrations or the hype that supermarkets create months beforehand, nobody can argue with days off and an excuse to eat life-endangering amounts of chocolate.
I don’t think I could possibly rate my favourite holiday (I don’t discriminate, I love them all), but Easter is pretty great. Every year, regardless of location or participants, my family holds an Easter egg hunt. It started when my brothers and I were little – we would go to our cousins’ farm in Orange and the Easter bunny would visit in the night. Easter morning, all the kids would wake up bright and early, line up and wait for permission to begin the race, much to the delight of the adults.
My cousins’ farm was the best place for the Easter bunny to secret away little chocolate Easter eggs; there were gnarled tree branches, lavender bushes, paving stones, fence posts and garden beds. We spent every Easter at the farm pretty much from when I was born until I was about 18.
Clearly the tradition continued way past our youth, because nobody wanted to give it up.
In recent years, we’ve not been able to go to the farm, so we’ve started an Easter egg hunt in Sydney. Now, thankfully, there is a new generation of kids who can partake in the Easter egg hunt, and while I’m slightly jealous of them for being able to join in the hunt, I love their enthusiasm and wild-eyed bemusement at seeing that Easter eggs have been delivered, and scattered throughout the garden by the Easter bunny.
Last year’s Easter was adorable (I spammed my Instagram followers with all of the cuteness), I can only assume that this year’s Easter, which is going to be at the farm again, will be equally as cute.
If you’re not excited about Easter yet, maybe I can entice you with some delicious Easter-appropriate recipes.
Simple Sunday cinnamon scrolls
Easter pavlova
Vanilla fig tarts
Honey jumbles
Caramel egg brownies
Citrus hot cross buns
Traditional hot cross buns
Nutella raspberry puffs
Crème eggs
Chocolate blueberry friands
Happy baking, and happy Easter!!
Lime and raspberry cupcakes and unbirthdays
I know too many people who were born in the last three months of the year, October is particularly packed. Lots of people, including the Boy, must be celebrated in such proximity to one another that I decided to throw another unbirthday party. It’s not that I dislike birthdays (quite the opposite, actually), it’s just there are not enough days to celebrate people properly!
The last unbirthday party I threw was mainly for one person, whereas this one was aimed at three people. It is worth noting that anyone can claim an unbirthday – as long as their birthday doesn’t fall on the say that it is celebrated!
I feel as though I’m becoming a bit of an unbirthday expert…
Norman, meanwhile, is an expert unbirthday crasher. He’s got his puppy dog eyes look sorted!
Continue reading “Lime and raspberry cupcakes and unbirthdays”
Edible flowers and trying new foods
My last post featured quite a few edible flowers. Truth be told, not all of those edible flowers needed to be on the cake, but they looked so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist (see the recipe here.) If I had an unlimited supply of blue starflower, johnny jump ups, violets and pineapple sage, I would have only topped the cake with these four.
Unfortunately, all of these flowers are teeny tiny, and it would take a whole lot of them to cover a cake. Also, I purchased a mixed lot of flowers, so I didn’t really have a choice in what went on my cake. Continue reading “Edible flowers and trying new foods”
Berry & Mint lemonade party punch!
This punch doesn’t need much explanation because it is so simple. You can adjust it to suit your needs as well. I made this punch alcohol-free (although Pimms was added to it as the tea party wore on!), so it would be perfect for a child’s or an adult’s party. The Mint and berries add a vibrant splash of colour, but they also give it a great flavour.
Unbirthdays and tea parties
I hinted last week that there was a friend’s birthday coming up soon. It was on Tuesday. So on Wednesday we threw an unbirthday party. She’s not a fan of birthdays (crazy, I know), but she loves Alice in Wonderland – how could I resist an unbirthday/Mad Hatter’s themed party?!
Recipes in this blog have all been posted before, click the name to get the recipe!
